Is it possible for UNM or Highlands to acquire the College of Santa Fe without legislative approval? Details remain murky.

PTSD Medical Marijuana Petitioner Not Current UNM Professor, Depsite Saying So In Letter To DOH

October 5, 2012, 2:00 pm

By Joey Peters

Albuquerque Psychiatrist William Ulwelling, who plans to petition the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board to remove PTSD from the state's Medical Cannabis Program, signed a July letter to DOH about his upcoming motion as "Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UNM School of Medicine." The problem, according to UNM? He's not a current assistant professor.

After SFR published a blog post on Wednesday and Daily Lobo reporter (and former SFR intern) Ardee Napolitano picked it up today (but the hat tip goes to KOB-TV's Peter St. Cyr for his tweet about it a few days before), Ulwelling's signature on the petition raised a red flag for faculty and officials at University of New Mexico's School of Medicine.

"The fact is he's not currently with UNM," Pari Noskin, a program manager at UNM's Department of Psychiatry, tells SFR. "It's a problem because he's saying he's with UNM and he's not."

Noskin did find a contract between Ulwelling and UNM in 2007 as a clinical assistant professor in volunteer faculty, meaning he helped train individuals but did not see patients. That contract ended at the end of the year, and there hasn't been one since, according to UNM.

"To the best of our knowledge there has not been any relations since 12/31/2007," Billy Sparks, a spokesman for the UNM Health Sciences Center, tells SFR, adding that Ulwelling's petition is "in no way" the official UNM position on the matter. "We would hope that he make that correction in future filings."

UPDATE: In a voicemail to SFR, Ulwelling says he began as a UNM clinical assistant professor in 1984. He adds that his records could have lapsed since his semi-retirement a few years ago.

"It's been part of my letterhead since 1984," Ulwelling says.

He adds that his petition has nothing to do with the University of New Mexico.

"The key thing is my paper is not meant to be any sort of official connection to UNM," he says.